


Babe, he's a rescue!

by tall_wolf_of_tarth



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dogs, F/M, Fluff, Podrick is a dog, based on a prompt list, not for cersei fans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:08:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24493288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tall_wolf_of_tarth/pseuds/tall_wolf_of_tarth
Summary: Can you please take my dog AU?Brienne is moving away from King's Landing and she needs someone to take care of Podrick the Dog.
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Comments: 72
Kudos: 272





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I saw this au from a prompt list, but of course now I can't find said list.
> 
> ETA: [found the prompt](https://writing-diaries.tumblr.com/post/185473948199/reunited-aus)

Babe, he's a rescue!

“Can we meet? There is something I need to talk about.” reads the text on Jaime's phone. It's late Saturday afternoon, Jaime is sitting in his kitchen and staring at his phone. A mix of emotions bubble up in Jaime's belly, and he puts the phone to the countertop and squeezes his eyes shut and tries to calm down.

He can't imagine any reason why Brienne would want to meet him, their breakup was half a year ago and it wasn't a clean one. Brienne has not contacted him after that. And Jaime can't imagine any topic that Brienne needs to talk to him about. Their relationship is dead, killed by Jaime and his idiotic need to always try to go and save his stepsister from something. If Brienne is willing to talk to him now, it must be something bad.

“Of course. I'm free all day.” He texts back and just waits and stares at the bubble on his screen. Her response comes swiftly, they are to meet in a dog park near Jaime's home in half an hour.

Podrick spots Jaime before Brienne does. Brienne's little scraggy dog whines and shakes his tail to Jaime, and Jaime is equally happy to see that silly puppy again after a long absence.

“Who's a good boy,” he coos to the dog and scratches his ears. The dog is so happy to see him that he wees on the ground. “Who's a good boy, you are, yes you are,” Jaime continues because that dog is a good boy, and they have missed each other. Besides, all dogs are good dogs, except Cersei's horrid monster.

“Jaime,” he then hears Brienne's voice and he stands up and gets a good look of Brienne, starting from the ground. She wears a battered pair of Converse, blue jeans and a pink NASA hoodie. Jaime used to steal that hoodie from Brienne and wear it to the office to annoy Addam. Brienne's eyes are just as blue as Jaime remembers and her hair still same white bob that curls to soft fluff.

“Thank you for coming,” she continues like they are in some idiotic seminar where she is the presenter. Jaime watches her blush rolling over her, starting from her collarbones, up her neck and up to her hairline. Jaime has always loved that blush, loved tracing the heat on her skin with his lips.

“Hey,” he manages to croak out, “it's good to see you.” It really is. She looks good, tall and strong, but nervous.

“So, you wanted to talk about something?”

Before she answers she bows down to pet Podrick and throw a ball. The little dog chases after it. Brienne comes back up and squares her shoulders.

“I got offered a research position. From Stark foundation.”

“Oh, congrats.” Brienne is an astronomer currently working at KLU. Research position should be good news, but Brienne looks like she is facing execution.

“It's in Land of Always Winter. At Stark-Baratheon Arctic Research Station.” There are several research stations at far north, hosting different scientists who are researching everything starting from local fauna to climate and astronomy. Jaime realises immediately why Brienne wanted to see him.

“What are you going to do with Pod?” The little dog is now back behind Brienne's feet, waiting for the ball to be thrown again. Brienne's face gets as red as a tomato. She has always hated to ask for any kind of help.

“Is that what you wanted to see me? You want me to take him?”

“Yes,” she manages to say. “It's for 10 months only, not permanent, and I can't take him with me, pets are obviously not allowed, and it's far too cold for him even if they were. And you know what he is like.” Jaime knows Pod, the poor puppy is afraid of everything and everyone. Except for Brienne. And Jaime.

“I know it's a lot to ask, Jaime.” She looks at him pleadingly. “But could you perhaps consider it? To take care of him while I'm away?”

He feels disappointed. He wasn't sure what he had hoped from this meeting, but Brienne asking him to dogsit for an almost a year wasn't it. Even if said dog was cute as a button.

“What if I can't? What will you do then?”

She looks away, follows her eyes to Pod, who is sniffing a bush nearby and shivering.

“Then I won't go.”

It's just like Brienne, to refuse a prestigious research position, a once in a lifetime opportunity, because of an ugly little rescue dog who is afraid of bicycles, pizza boxes and every human on the planet except Brienne and Jaime.

“When are you going?” he asks, knowing already that he will agree.

“In a fortnight.”

***

The positive side of agreeing to dogsit is that Jaime gets to see Brienne a few times before she leaves. She brings Podrick to test visit by Jaime’s request, and when he returns the dog he picks up a growing pile of chew toys, blankets, beds, bowls and leashes to take back to his apartment. On the night before her flight, Brienne comes over to bring Podrick to his door. She refuses to come in, and just hugs and pets Pod on the hallway. Her eyes are filled with tears when she looks at Podrick but when she stands up her face is arranged to stoic indifference.

“Goodby, Jaime,” she nods and leaves. Jaime picks up these crumbs of a relationship and guards them to his heart.

The negative side of having Podrick is unsurprisingly the way Cersei reacts to the dog.

“What the fuck is this, Jaime?” his stepsister screeches in his living room when she spots Podrick shivering behind Jaime's feet. “Is that  _ her  _ dog?” Joffrey, Cersei's prised Yorkshire terrier is yapping aggressively at Cersei's lap at Podrick who makes a quick escape and hides under Jaime's bed. Cersei bangs the door on her way out with such a force that a painting falls from the wall and it takes Jaime three hours and a bag of treats to coax Podrick away from his hiding place.

The same scene repeats next time Cersei comes over. She is convinced that Podrick will murder her precious Joff and that Jaime's apartment is now contaminated with fleas and odd smells brought in by rescue dog.

“I don't understand why you need to dogsit that horrid mongrel,” she complains to Jaime in a hotel room that Jaime booked so he can see her. They have been dating again after his breakup from Brienne. Cersei still doesn't want to go public with him and there is a some Iron Islander in leather pants who is sniffing around Cersei but she refuses to talk about that and continues complaining about Podrick who Jaime has left home alone with an assortment of toys.

“Just take it to the park and leave it there, you can tell the cow it ran away,” his stepsister sips wine and rolls eyes for Jaime's shocked expression. “Gods, you've always been too soft. Take it to the vet then and put the poor thing out of its misery. I'm sure it has rabies or something.” She finishes her wine and pushes her hand inside Jaime's pants. Jaime closes his eyes and pretends not to hear Joff yowling but no matter how much he tries he can't get rid of slight nausea caused by Cersei's carelessly cruel words and her breath reeking wine and cigarettes. No matter how much he tries to pretend he doesn't care the nausea just worsens, so he stands up from the bed and tucks his cock back to his pants.

“I don't want to do this anymore,” he tells Cersei and waits inevitable slap to arrive. When it does, he feels relieved. “I will  _ not  _ do this anymore, Cersei,” he repeats and leaves, carefully sidestepping a mess that Joff has left on the parquet floor.

***

_ I gave up Brienne for that _ , Jaime thinks later when walking Podrick in the park. For a woman, who had slept with a half of a football team when they had been in University and married someone else every time Jaime proposed her. And for the baby who probably never existed, regardless of Cersei's carefully smudged makeup and tear tracks, trying to convince Jaime that there had been a tragic miscarriage. For the secrecy that Cersei still insisted while publicly appearing with Euron Greyjoy. His stepsister has always been cruel and indifferent, why is it just now that Jaime has seen her monstrosity?

It was because of Brienne, Jaime knows. Brienne, who had loved him regardless of his horrific hand injury and who always told him that he is capable of being a decent person.

Podrick carefully sniffs a trash can and whimpers when a tram comes to the nearby stop. “We're doing fine, Pod,” he tells the little creature and it almost feels true.

“We are doing fine,” he texts to Brienne and adds a picture of Pod sleeping on Jaime's bed. He then deletes  _ We are  _ and replaces it with  _ Pod is _ . Brienne doesn't care of how Jaime is doing, so he sends her carefully curated pictures of Pod sleeping, Pod eating, Pod sitting on a park bench and leaves out any updates of how they are doing. Brienne sends him back equally short replies.  _ I arrived yesterday. Thank you for pictures and updates. It's very cold here. Thank you for letting me know. Thank you. _

Having escaped from Cersei's manicured claws Jaime founds he has much more free time than before. He spends it with Podrick, walking in the parks and roaming in the countryside where he drives on the weekends. His fills up Brienne's email with pictures until he senses her frustration and just creates a Ravergram account to flood instead. Brienne likes every picture but apparently only looks at them twice a week. Jaime starts waiting for the event. Every Sunday and Thursday afternoon his phone blows up with notifications.

_ @brienneoftarth liked your photo _

_ @brienneoftarth liked your photo _

You have 27 new notifications.

It feels like a conversation. She still doesn't talk to him, except the polite replies she writes to his email updates.

“I took Pod to the vet for his checkup.” -- “Thank you, Jaime.”

When the notifications pop up Jaime feels like this is a conversation. On Monday morning he posts a picture of Podrick sitting on a bench (“I can be trusted.”). On Thursday night comes inevitable reply  _ @brienneoftarth liked your photo  _ (“I can see that you are making an effort.”). Next notification arrives, and the next one, and the next one. Jaime calls Podrick over and gives him a treat.

“Who's a good boy, Poddy? You are, yes you are. Your mommy misses you, and we miss her too, buddy.”

He is almost content with their situation until one Tuesday night, Brienne Faceravens Jaime.

Jaime is sitting on the couch with his laptop finalizing a report that Addam will need on the morning, Podrick gently snoring next to him when the call comes. The alert from the Ravengram startles Podrick, and Jaime hits accept button before even registering from whom the call comes. It's only when he sees her face on his screen he realises that  _ it's Brienne _ .

“Jaime, hi,” Brienne greets him on the screen. The sound is slightly off and the video feed is pixelated, but it's good to see her.

“Brienne,” Jaime sighs and draws his hand through his hair. He looks like a mess, sitting on the couch in his worn t-shirt and glasses. Brienne looks adorable. She is wearing her gansey and is sitting against some pillows, perhaps on her bed.

“Is everything alright?” he asks because Brienne has not called him after her move to Land of Always Winter.

“Yes,” pixelated Brienne responds and Jaime's heart clenches. “I just...” She looks away for a moment from the camera before continuing. “I just missed Pod and wanted to know how are you doing.”

“Pod's just fine,” Jaime turns his laptop to his side to show the sleeping dog. Podrick's paws are twitching and he whines in his sleep. They chat little about Podrick when he turns the laptop back but when the topic runs out, Brienne worries her lip with her teeth. It's the longest talk they've had, not counting the lecture Brienne gave him about what to feed the dog.

“Is there something wrong?” Jaime asks. “Nothing,” she hurries to assure but pulls back a little. “I guess... I guess I miss home.”

“Home here or home at Tarth?” Jaime spent one Sevenmas with Brienne at Tarth and it was the best holiday he ever had in his not so short life. He still misses the island, even when he has only spent a few days there.

“Both, I guess.”

“Do you get to come back at all before your assignment ends?”

“I'll have ten days off next month, then I'll go home.”

“Will you come and pick up Pod? Or I can bring him to Storm's End if you want him there?”

Brienne is worrying her lip again. She looks stressed and perhaps a little bit sad.

“I was planning to stay at King's Landing for a few days actually. I don't want to take Podrick to Tarth because of dads cats. Do you remember how they terrorised him?”

Selwyn had three adorable cats who had taken the interest of Podrick, who of course was terrified of the gang of overly affectionate felines. Podrick had spent the Sevenmas hiding in his pet carrier.

“Where are you going to stay?” Brienne has rented out her apartment and Jaime immediately spots an opportunity. “You know, you can stay here,” he offers her. “In my guest room,” he adds quickly, so she doesn't get the wrong idea. Not that he would oppose it, but Brienne wouldn't ever return to his bed, he knows. But at least he would maybe see her for a little bit.

“I don't think that's a good idea.” She looks slightly surprised at the offer.

“I can stay over at Addam if you're uncomfortable.” Jaime proposes instead. “You won't have to even see me. Just stay here in my guest room, and you can spend as much time as you want to with Pod.”

She still hesitates. “Won't Cersei mind?”

Oh, she doesn't know, he realises. Cersei is on her third husband now, and the marriage to Greyjoy was even in the tabloids. But Brienne doesn't read the tabloids, and besides, Cersei's previous marriages hadn't stopped Jaime being devoted to her. Of course, Brienne thinks that Jaime still is Cersei's puppet.

“I don't care what Cersei thinks.” Brienne's eyes get wide.

“I've broken off with her. Permanently.” It had been a hard thing to do first, but it got easier when he had blocked her in every possible platform. He hasn't talked to Cersei in three months at least, and Jaime has never felt freer.

“I've had some enlightening conversations with my therapist, and I had my eyes opened in other ways too, and I don't want to have anything to do with her ever again.” He rubs his hand to his stubble and falls silent. Brienne stares back at him from the screen.

“Jaime, that's...” She doesn't continue and puts her hands to her face.  _ Shit, I've upset her _ , Jaime realises.

“Sorry, I shouldn't have...” He doesn't know what to say either, because he is not sorry he told Brienne that he has broken off from Cersei. He keeps rubbing his face and feels infinitely stupid, but then Podrick wakes up, puts his little paws to Jaime's lap and starts to lick his face.

“Stop it, Pod, you are smudging my glasses,” he tries to push the little bastard away from him, but Podrick is determined that Jaime needs a good wash with his tongue and Jaime has to pick him up and put the dog down to the floor. When Jaime comes back to the laptop Brienne is hiding a smile.

“Jaime,” she starts speaking when Jaime is trying to wipe his face to his sleeve and sort out his glasses. “You know what, I think I'd like that.”

“Like what?” Jaime looks to the screen from the glasses he is wiping to the hem of his shirt.

“I'd like to come and stay over. For a few days.”

“Oh.” He feels the smile coming up on his face. Podrick has found his way back to the sofa and drops a stuffed bear to Jaime's keyboard. The little dog loves when Jaime scratches behind his ears, so Jaime does that and the dog whimpers happily.

“Hear that, Poddy? Mommy's coming to visit us soon,” he coos and Podrick tries to lick his face again. “Aren't we lucky boys, yes we are, yes we are.” It's only when he hears Brienne's laugh from the speakers before he realises what he said.

“I'll see you both soon,” Brienne snorts before ending the call.

And that tiny bit of hope is all Jaime needs for now. That and Podrick.


	2. Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brienne comes to visit Podrick the dog and Jaime at King's Landing.

Brienne spots Jaime and Podrick as soon as she steps through the doors to the arrivals hall. It's early morning, there are very few people in the waiting area and Jaime is taller than anyone else. It also helps that Podrick, Brienne's little dog that Jaime has cared for, starts whimpering at his feet. Brienne runs to the dog and drops to the floor.

“Podrick, my sweet boy,” she cries and hugs the squirming dog. Brienne's eyes fill with tears, as she has missed her little puppy during her long stay at Land of Always Winter research station.

It takes a while for Podrick and Brienne to calm down, but when they do, Brienne stands up and greets Jaime who has waited patiently at his turn.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you. Hi Jaime,” Brienne says and then they do this awkward hug when you are not quite sure if you should hug someone or not so you just hug with your upper body touching.

“This is Dacey,” Brienne introduces the tall woman who has trailed behind her with her luggage. Dacey and Brienne have both returned from the Stark-Baratheon Arctic Research Station together for their annual leave. After extracting a promise from Brienne to go out to eat together at least once in King's Landing Dacey refuses Jaime's offers to for a ride and stalks determinedly towards the train station. Jaime hands Podrick's leash to Brienne and takes Brienne's small luggage and leads her to his car.

Brienne hasn't been inside Jaime's apartment ever since their initial breakup. Hells, she hadn't seen Jaime at all after she had walked away from that restaurant on her birthday.

She couldn't just face them, the explanations why Cersei had needed help with something again and why Jaime had to be the one who helped her.

That's what it was like with Cersei, every time. She always needed saving from something. Usually it was when Jaime was doing something nice, and especially if he was doing something nice with Brienne, as her birthday dinner had been. Her modus operandi had been so obvious to Brienne yet Jaime never seemed to pick it up.

If Jaime went to a game with Brienne, they had to leave before half-time because Cersei had locked herself out of her apartment. If they tried to watch a film at Brienne's apartment, an emergency came up with Cersei's work, and Jaime had to talk her through it for hours. If Jaime stayed overnight at Brienne's, Cersei got drunk in a club and needed a ride home. And always, always it was only Jaime that could help. And Cersei happened to have a lot of problems. Most of them were caused by her alcohol abuse, either directly or indirectly, and quite many of them could be solved out by just trying, thought Brienne bitterly in that restaurant. Like replacing a light bulb or updating some software on her computer.

“Why does it need to be you,” she had asked Jaime once with irritation. “She is wealthy enough to hire someone to do all those things.” But Cersei was too fragile, strange men scared her (but not when Jaime had to peel her away from some nameless man's lap at the booth of some bar). Only Jaime was trustworthy enough, only Jaime knew how to handle her meltdowns. And Cersei was family. His stepsister.

So Brienne just ignored it all, learned to pause the movie and pick up a book when the inevitable call came. And Jaime was always sorry.

“I'm sorry it took so long, she needed help with her new account.”

“I'm sorry, I have to go, she had a fight with Robert.”

“I'm sorry, I have to go. She's family. I have to help her.”

“I'm sorry.”

Brienne had wondered what would it be like if Gal was alive. If she would have a brother to call whenever she needed to. What it would feel like to have someone you could call over to sort out something that troubled you.

Brienne had just always dealt with everything herself. Called a locksmith or found the nearest bus stop, and just figured it out what to do. Like on her birthday dinner when the inevitable call from Cersei had come, just right after they had finished the starters.

“I'm sorry, she is having some sort of medical issue,” Jaime had said and gone to the street to talk on his phone. Their main course came and Brienne watched it to cool off, until she stood up, paid for the food, walked out and found the nearest bus stop. He hadn't even had noticed that she was gone until Brienne had already boarded the bus and was on her way home.

Before Brienne can think more about that horrid weekend they arrive at Jaime's apartment. It's still dark outside, and when he turns the lights on Brienne takes it all in. It's still exactly like before, except almost every surface is littered with chew toys, beds and blankets. The king of this hoard rushes to the living room, finds a dragon plush as large as himself and brings it to Brienne.

Jaime, who at least seems to be slightly embarrassed with the accumulation of the toys, leads Brienne and Podrick to his guest room and leaves them both there. Brienne, who has never had reason to be in Jaime's guest room, finds the room pleasant. The best part of the room is the bed, which seems to be tall enough for Brienne, unlike the one she has at the Research Station. There is even a small vase with wildflowers on the dresser and a set of pyjamas on the bed. The adjacent bathroom has a bathtub that might even be tall enough to Brienne and she finds her favourite bath foam on the shelf.

 _I can't believe he still remembers what I liked,_ Brienne thinks when sinking to the warm water. It's been nine months since their breakup. Podrick, who has trailed after her ever since she had arrived, rushes out of the bathroom and returns with the dragon plush again, which he deposits in front of the bathtub. “Good boy,” Brienne coos to the dog, who wags his tail and makes several more trips to the living room and fetches more toys and blankies until he has built a sufficient nest to lay on top of while Brienne soaks away all 18 hours of travelling; helicopters, seaplanes and increasingly bigger passenger planes until arriving here. When she sinks to the giant soft bed smelling of lavender, Podrick follows her there and squeezes himself as close as Brienne as he can and sighs happily when Brienne puts her hand on top of him.

***

 _Have you fucked him yet_ , texts Dacey to her a few days later. Brienne and Dacey had once got pants-drunk* in their room and Brienne had confessed her conflicting feelings about her gorgeous dog-sitting ex to her room-mate. Dacey's solution was that they should just fuck it out of them while on holiday.

“Gods knows, I plan to get some when we go back to KL. I just need to find some suitable victim. I'm bored with everyone at the station.” The long winter months at the polar station were notorious from the hookups that happened between the inmates but Brienne had not participated in the activities. Not because she hadn't had opportunities, (Tormund especially had leered at her continuously) but because she was still very much hung up on Jaime.

Dacey, whom Brienne likes quite a lot, demands to go to late lunch with Brienne in some posh place at King's Landing.

“Ask your dog-sitting ex where is that cafe where he got that gorgeous cake last week.” Dacey who pretty early spotted Brienne stalking Jaime's Ravengram followed it herself, much to Brienne's annoyance. Jaime's account has a large amount of followers after he posted a photo of himself shirtless with Pod and the photo went viral in a few hours. “It was an accident, I didn't realise I could be seen in the mirror,” he had laughed about it when they had talked about it at Skype. Besides photos of Podrick, Jaime posts about his lunches, quotes from the books he reads and lately occasional selfie with Pod, always fully dressed. Brienne likes to browse through his feed when she is feeling down at the station, because she misses Pod, but also because she misses King's Landing and Jaime.

The cafe with a gorgeous cake is nearby Jaime's office. Brienne, Pod and Dacey find themself a table in a shady courtyard and order salads before cakes. Brienne could never have guessed that she would miss salad and other fresh vegetables so much as she does now. Almost as soon as they have ordered Jaime and Addam join them.

“Sorry, Addam wanted to come and greet you,” Jaime approaches apologetically. Dacey, who is curious to see the dog-sitting ex, promptly invites them to join at the table. The men order coffee and Addam starts to grill Brienne and Dacey about life and work in the Arctic station.

It's quite nice sitting here in the warm and sunny courtyard. Podrick, who has sprawled himself over Brienne's foot stretches himself and manages to lay partially on Jaime's foot as well. It's easy to let the other three who are more talkative and outgoing to do the talking, and Brienne just leans back and listens.

Addam, who is recently divorced and ready to move on manages quicky to get Dacey laughing and the two get on like a house on fire. It doesn't take long before the afternoon meetings get cancelled, champagne gets ordered to the table and late lunch transforms into after work chill out. Even Podrick is not forgotten, the kitchen sends him some chicken to eat and a bowl of water.

“Brienne,” Dacey commands. “You promised to tell me about Podrick. Where did you find him?”

If not for champagne, Brienne probably would not tell the story, at least not all of it. The beginning of it is easy, as she found an injured dog outside a candle shop at Hollard. But the rest of the story is much of the story of how Brienne found Jaime. Or how Brienne had lost Podrick in a park and how Jaime had found him, picked up little doggie shivering at his feet and called the phone number on his collar.

“You yelled at me,” Brienne remembers.

“That's because I thought you were careless with Pod. I did apologise later.”

“Some kid had a water gun,” Brienne explains to Dacey, “and Podrick just pulled away from the leash like a damn rocket.”

She decidedly looks at the dog and not Jaime. “Jaime drove us home.”

And he had texted her next day, and the day after that until she had agreed to go out with him.

Cersei had been on her second marriage then, and not speaking with Jaime at the time. Brienne had managed to date Jaime almost two months before the calls started, right after Tyrion had posted a photo to his Ravengram where Jaime and Brienne could be seen holding hands at the background.

They have been now in this cafe for hours without anyone calling him. Brienne is not sure what to think of it.

Podrick needs a walk, so their chill-out comes to end. Addam and Dacey decide to continue to a nearby bar, so Brienne and Jaime walk through the park to the tram stop and go home.

When the little dog has settled himself to his bed with an assortment of soft and squeaky toys, Jaime sits down to the sofa, next to Brienne and looks at her with an expression that makes Brienne’s heart race.

“Brienne,” he starts, draws breath and bites his lip. “Brienne, I want to apologise.” Jaime carefully takes her hand.

“About what?” 

“About what happened at your birthday. And about everything else too.”

“Alright,” Brienne smiles a little. “I really am grateful that you took Podrick in, and I know how inconvenient it must be for you. Thank you for it.”

“I love having him here.” He squeezes her hand a little and his eyes are shining like two emeralds. “And I love having you here.”

Brienne feels her face going red. “Jaime,” she whispers and looks down at their joined hands. She traces the red scars on his hand with her thumb.

“I don't expect anything from you,” Jaime continues. “I don't have any right to do so. But I want you to know that I'm here for you. Now, and when you come back from North again.”

And that small promise melts Brienne's heart. That Jaime promises to be there for her. She doesn't need him for little things but Jaime has helped her with a very big thing, had made it possible for her to go away for work for a year. Maybe, if Brienne lets herself, she can trust him with something small too, again.

“Thank you, Jaime,” she says and his smile is as bright as the sun.

“Do you want to watch a film with me?”

This time, their night is not interrupted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * pants-drunk – when you stay at home and get drunk in your underwear


End file.
